By the end of
the nineteenth century, the German firm of Ernest Nister was producing
sumptuous chromolithographed picture books, commissioning English
writers and artists. This charming movable book, where a cut-out
frame pulls up to give the effect of a stage set, was published
for the Christmas market in 1896. It cost 5 shillings in Britain,
or $2.50 in America. The illustrator, Evelyn Stuart Hardy, came
from a family of artists living in Bristol. From an early age she
contributed work to periodicals, and illustrated many books for
Nister between 1890 and 1910.